Madison Keys’ coach has noticed what male tennis players are so much better at than 90% of women on the WTA Tour

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Madison Keys won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open after beating Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek in back-to-back matches.

Keys arrived on the WTA Tour at 14-years-old, and was tipped for major success from an early age.

However, the American was unable to win her first Grand Slam until over 15 years later, leading to Aryna Sabalenka breaking her racket in frustration after the final.

Since the Australian Open final, Keys has stayed away from the matchcourt and withdrew from the upcoming WTA 1000 tournament in Doha.

Having broken back into the top 10 of the WTA rankings, Keys is also unable to play a tournament that she had originally entered and been promoted to play.

Bjorn Fratangelo says what ATP players do better than WTA players

Bjorn Fratangelo became Keys’ coach in Spring 2023, with the couple recently getting married in the off-season.

The Australian Open implemented a new coaching rule this year that divided opinion amongst players.

This is something that the eventual champion used to benefit her, as Fratangelo gave Keys some important advice.

Despite being the coach of a top WTA player, Fratangelo believes that the ATP Tour are much better at hiding their weaknesses.

Fratangelo explained how he uses this to his advantage when speaking on Andy Roddick’s podcast.

“It’s very different. I remember the week we did Indian Wells, when you helped me out, you saw me. I was a slight guy, I didn’t have a lot of weapons,” said the former top 100 player. “I really had to problem solve my way through most of my career, so I feel like I have been able to bring that into the coaching side.

“I feel the biggest difference is that the guys hide their weaknesses so much better. You [Roddick] always talk about your backhand and how bad it is, but your slice didn’t come off the ground, your serve was 140mph and your forehand is good. So maybe your backhand isn’t as good, but good luck finding it, you will find ways around it.

“Whereas I don’t feel like a lot of the girls, or 90% of the girls have that. It’s like if you can hone in on a weakness you are probably going to be on the better side of that outcome and I happen to coach a person who can hit the ball at 90mph as her average rally ball speed. It’s incredible.

“So with that being said it’s a lot easier to pick on someone’s weaknesses when you have someone like that. It makes the game planning so easy for me because up until a certain point I just say you have to do this and it will go your way.”

Bjorn Fratangelo looks forward to Madison Keys playing Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka

Tim Henman previously pinpointed Iga Swiatek’s weakness, with Keys saving a match point to beat the five-time major winner in the Australian Open semi-final.

Fratangelo has backed another player to become number one, with Keys actually beating this player en route to winning the Australian Open.

The top tennis coach also admitted to looking forward to coaching Keys against Swiatek and Sabalenka, drawing comparisons to a chess match.

“There are a lot of parts of Madi’s game which I feel I need to improve but as far as when the match ups come about it’s usually like just do this and it’ll be okay,” said Fratangelo. “I look forward to the Iga and Sabalenka matches because it’s a lot more granular.

“I have to really get down to it, it becomes more like a chess match. Especially the one with Iga. That is what I look forward to, but I feel a lot of the time I can just look at technique, see grips and just say go. Basically just release the troops and just fire.”